More than a Fantasy

 I am smoking my Lee Van Cleef Meerschaum pipe I don't smoke all that much with my Tropical Export pipe tobacco.  Lee Van Cleef often smoked his trademark pipe in his roles he played in Spaghetti Westerns, but most notably in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, starring Clint Eastwood.  I wanted to pay homage to Hollywood for all the pipes that were smoked on so many TV shows and movies in the past.

I watched a few episodes of Fantasy Island this past week or so.  This was a TV series from the late 70's to the mid-80's.  In one of the episodes three of the main male characters of the show smoked pipes.  I grew up in an era where pipe smoking was quite common on TV and in movies.  Today pipe smoking is relegated to some guy, because pipe smokers are mostly guys, sitting in his garage or outside, as I am this morning, by himself, as I am today.  But there was a time when a pipe was a fashion accessory.  

I mention Fantasy Island, because it is one of the few old TV shows I could to watch on YouTube.  I can watch some old shows from Netflix, Peacock+, or Paramount, but this happened to be on YouTube.  As a side note to Fantasy Island, Mr. Rourke, played by Ricardo Maltaban, was a fallen angel, whose sin was pride.  The island is his purgatory, where he charges each guest $10,000 for a fantasy over a weekend visit.  But each fantasy has a twist with a moral at the end.  He explained this once in an interview.  

My wife and I watched this show regularly when it was on, but now it is quite dated and campy, as are most shows from that era.  But the fact is that in the one episode there were men who smoked pipes.  I have written so much about pipe smoking in the days gone by.  There was a time when pipe smokers were visible most anywhere, but now we mostly smoke alone in our garages or sheds, or as I am this morning, by myself on the patio.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave